1255 Francis Edwards

Constituency : Radnorshire  1892-5, 1900-10, 1910-18

Francis  recovered  Radnorshire  for the  Liberals  for  the  first  time  since  1885.

Francis  was  educated  at  Shrewsbury  School  and  Oxford.

Despite  being  an  Anglican  himself  Francis  was  a  strong  supporter  of  disestablishing  the Church  in Wales  and  was  an  early  ally  of  Lloyd  George. He  joined  the  protest  of  Lloyd George  and  others  at  Rosebery's  delay  in  addressing  the  issue  in  1894.

Francis  was  defeated  in  1895  and  so  avoided  getting  too  involved  in  the  power  struggle  over Cymru  Fydd. He  was  an  opponent  of  the  Boer  War  but  that  didn't  prevent  him  winning Radnorshire  again  in  1900  by  166  votes. His  majority  increased  by  a  mere  8  votes  in  1906.

Francis  was  created  a  baronet  in  1907.

Francis  was  defeated  in  January  1910  by  just  14  votes  but  edged  another  knife-edge  contest   by  42  votes  in  December.

Francis  published  a  volume  of  translated  Welsh  poetry  in  1913.

Francis  was  seriously  ill  at  the  beginning  of  1914  but  recovered,

Francis  stood  down  in  1918.

He  died  in  1927  aged  75.